Wexit Saskatchewan The
2019 federal election provided the impetus for the organization of the Buffalo Party. The
Conservative Party of Canada won every seat in Saskatchewan, and 54 out of 62 across the Prairie provinces, while the
Liberal Party of Canada secured a minority government. The results stoked feelings of
western alienation, or the sense that western Canadian perspectives were being ignored at the federal level. Immediately after the election,
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe proposed a "New Deal" with the federal government. He called for an end to the federal
carbon tax, renegotiation of the
equalization formula, and the approval of new pipeline projects. In the weeks after the election, discussions began about the creation of a new western separatist party, a political strategy that had previously gained traction on the Prairies in the early 1980s, resulting in parties like the
Western Canada Concept and the
Unionest Party. The new movement was dubbed the "Wexit" movement, a portmanteau of "western" and "exit" and a play on
Brexit. The movement adopted the slogan "The West Wants Out", the inverse of
Preston Manning's
Reform Party slogan from the 1980s, "The West Wants In". While the
Saskatchewan Party government issued a statement that it was opposed to secession, former Sask Party
MLA—and Reform Party
MP—
Allan Kerpan acted as a spokesperson for the Wexit Saskatchewan group. On March 10, 2020, Wexit Saskatchewan was officially registered as a provincial party by
Elections Saskatchewan, with Jake Wall serving as interim leader. Once registered, Wexit Saskatchewan proposed a referendum on independence in its platform.
Buffalo Party In July 2020, the party announced that membership had voted to change its name to the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan, and that Wall had stepped down as interim leader and had been replaced by Wade Sira, who was appointed by the party's board. The Buffalo name was derived from the early twentieth century proposal to create one large western province called
Buffalo, before the federal government instead created two new provinces in Alberta and Saskatchewan. On August 31, 2021, Sira was removed as interim leader of the party after a unanimous vote by the party's board. Sira, who missed the meeting, said he found out about his removal through media reports. The party board accused Sira of making unapproved financial commitments, which Sira denied. On March 25, 2022,
Phillip Zajac, who finished second as a Buffalo candidate in the Estevan riding in the
2020 provincial election, became the first elected leader of the Buffalo Party, defeating Clint Arnason, the party's candidate in the
2022 by-election in the
Athabasca riding. In September 2024, ahead of the
2024 provincial election, the Buffalo Party was approached by the
Progressive Conservative Party to discuss a merger that could enable a unified party to field a full slate of candidates. However, on September 12, PC leader Rose Buscholl announced that the talks had ended without an agreement, citing the Buffalo Party's "extensive focus on out-of-scope federal and international issues" as a deal-breaker. Zajac stated that he thought "the pros" of a merger "outweigh the cons", and that he was disappointed in the lack of an agreement. In February 2025, the Buffalo Party faced online backlash opposing its scheduled March 1, 2025 fundraising event at the German Club in
Regina, SK. The event, titled
“Should Saskatchewan Become the 51st US State?”—has drawn online commenters to call for plans to protest—which prompted the political party to hire security and ask for a police presence in case protests do happen. The party surprised many by finishing second in four rural ridings and third in the provincial popular vote—with 2.6%—despite not running candidates in 44 of 61 districts. The party had second-place finishes to the Saskatchewan Party in
Cypress Hills,
Kindersley,
Estevan, and
Cannington—the only third party to secure a second-place finish in any district. Moe would later adopt similar language to the Buffalo Party, calling for Saskatchewan to be recognized as a "nation within a nation" and for more autonomy in the areas of policing, immigration, and taxation. The Buffalo Party contested a
provincial by-election in September 2022 in
Saskatoon Meewasin, with former
People's Party of Canada candidate Mark Friesen as its candidate; Friesen, a prominent protester of public health measures who was sent to Ontario for
intensive care treatment for COVID-19, finished fourth. The party contested another
by-election in August 2023 in
Lumsden-Morse, again finishing fourth. Phillip Zajac launched Buffalo's 2024 election campaign on October 2, 2024, with two pronouncements—that the party wished to see the creation of a Ministry of Seniors and Veterans Affairs, and that the party supported the revival of the
Saskatchewan Transportation Company, a
crown corporation that was shut down by the Saskatchewan Party government in 2017. Zajac also committed to abolishing the provincial sales tax and bolstering rural hospitals. Ultimately, the party failed to build on its surprise 2020 third-place finish; Zajac finished third in his riding of
Estevan-Big Muddy, the best result for any Buffalo candidate as the party dropped to sixth among the seven registered parties, receiving less than one percent of the vote province wide. Although Zajac stated that he was "disappointed" with the results, he asserted that "Buffalo's not going anywhere". == Ideology ==